The Eye (Gin gwai)

Dir: Danny Pang Phat, Oxide Pang Chun, Pang Brothers

2002

****

Following the success of The Ring, Asian Horror found a large global following and more and more films found a wider audience. This meant that more money was being spent on productions but the Pang Brothers wisely kept their 2002 horror The Eye as simple as possible. Twin brothers Danny and Oxide Pang said they were inspired to write the screenplay for The Eye by a report they had seen in a Hong Kong newspaper 13 years before, about a 16-year-old girl who had received a corneal transplant and committed suicide soon after. "We'd always wondered what the girl saw when she regained her eyesight finally and what actually made her want to end her life", Oxide said in an interview. The conclusion of the film is based on an actual event from 1990’s Bangkok gas explosion on New Petchburi Road on 24 September 1990. It killed 90 people, injured 121 people, 43 cars were destroyed and total damage was 315 million baht. Blind since the age of two, 20-year-old Hong Kong classical violinist Mun undergoes an eye cornea transplant after receiving a pair of new eyes from a donor. Initially, she is glad to have her sense of sight restored but becomes troubled when she starts seeing mysterious figures that seem to foretell gruesome deaths. The night before her discharge from hospital, she sees a shadowy figure accompanying a patient out of the room and the next morning the patient is pronounced dead. Mun goes to see her doctor's nephew, Dr. Wah, a psychologist, about the strange entities that she has been seeing. He is skeptical at first, but as he gradually develops a closer relationship with her, he decides to accompany her on a trip to northern Thailand to find Ling, the eye donor. When they ask a village doctor about Ling and her family, he is unwilling to reveal anything but becomes more cooperative when Mun tells him that she sees what Ling used to see. Apparently, Ling had a psychic ability that allowed her to foresee death and disaster. However, her fellow villagers misunderstood her as a jinx and refused to trust her. Once, Ling tried to warn the people about an imminent disaster, but they drove her away in disbelief. When her vision came true, she felt guilty about the deaths and hanged herself. Ling's mother is both depressed and angry with her daughter and has never forgiven Ling for committing suicide, until one night Ling's spirit possesses Mun and attempts suicide. Ling's mother saves Mun and breaks down, saying that she has forgiven Ling and Ling's spirit leaves in peace. On the return journey, their bus is caught in a traffic jam and Mun sees hundreds of ghostly figures lumbering on the road. Believing that a catastrophe is approaching, she runs out of the bus and tries to warn everyone to leave, but no one understands her and think that she is insane. In fact, the traffic jam is due to a tank truck that has toppled over and is blocking the road. The truck starts leaking natural gas but nobody notices it. A driver restarts his engine and ignites the gas, causing a chain explosion. Dr. Wah saves Mun from death by shielding her with his body, but Mun is already blinded by glass fragments. In the epilogue, a blind Mun is seen roaming the streets of Hong Kong. Although she has lost her sense of sight again, she is happy that she now has the support and friendship of Dr. Wah. The dark figure that constantly appears in the film when the characters die is the Daoist form of the Grim Reaper. In Daoist belief, there are two Grim Reapers, the White and Black "Wu Chang". The Black Reaper is the one that escorts the newly dead to the "other world" of "afterlife". It is pretty basic stuff as far as a paranormal film goes and if themes of psychic ability aren’t quite your cup of tea then you might find The Eye hard to get along with. It is also far too melodramatic. However, it is a masterpiece of creepiness and about as eerie as you can get. The ghosts are in plain sight but are more frightening than they have ever been in a dark haunted house. The jump scenes are beautifully crafted and original. There are one or two scenes that I personally believe belong in the category of greatest horror scenes of all time. The scene whereby a ghost asks Mun ‘Why are you sitting in my chair’ is about as terrifying as it gets and it made me spill coffee all over my living room rug, causing an argument between me and my wife – the true sign of a great horror movie. More often than not, the pointless inferior Hollywood remake is a sure sign that the film must be good and it rings true here for sure. The Eye may not be greater than the sum of its parts, but like an ex-girlfriend once said to me, my goodness it’s parts are scary.